1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic component and a manufacturing method therefor and more particularly, to an electronic apparatus having a structure configured to house an electronic component element easily and precisely inside a package and a manufacturing method therefor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional electronic component elements, such as a surface acoustic wave element, is housed in a package and is used as an electronic component. A package for face-down mounting, in which the electronic component element is housed, is well known. In such face-down mounting, the two methods described below are used as a positioning method when electronic component elements are housed in such packages.
In a first method, a side wall of a concave portion of a package is used as a positioning guide, and an electronic component element is housed inside the package and is mounted face-down. In such a method, because an electronic component element is positioned after the electronic component element has been placed against the side wall of a concave portion of a package, which functions as a positioning guide, and the position of the side wall has been recognized and then the electronic component element is face-down mounted, the mounting can be easily carried out using a simple method.
In a second method, an electronic component element is face-down mounted using image recognition of an electrode pattern and a positional recognition mark located on the bottom surface of the electronic component element. That is, using the face-down mounting surface inside a concave portion of a package, the electronic component element is located and mounted in position. In such a method, because an electronic component element can be mounted at a position corresponding to the electrode pattern which is precisely located inside a concave portion of a package, very high positioning accuracy can be achieved.
However, in the first method, since the side wall of a concave portion of a package is used as a positioning guide, an electronic component element must be placed against the side wall at least once, and when such a process is taken into consideration, it was required that the area of the concave portion of the package must be larger than the electronic component element. Furthermore, although an electronic component element can be face-down mounted in a relatively simple method, the mounting can not be precisely performed.
Furthermore, in the second method, when image recognition of the electrode pattern and a positioning mark on the bottom surface in a concave portion of a package is performed, if a laminate of a plurality of ceramics and electrode patterns, that is, a ceramic package, for example, is used, the ceramic layers and electrode patterns are displaced from each other in the laminate, and then the electrode pattern and the positioning mark on the bottom surface in the concave portion of a package to be used for image recognition and the side wall of the package are displaced from each other by about 0.1 mm in the worst case. As a result, in order that an electronic component element is arranged to not contact the side wall so as to avoid damage of the electronic component element when the element is mounted face-down, the size of the electronic component element which is equal to 0.2 mm, which is twice as much as the above-described displacement, must be reduced. Furthermore, when a positioning mark is formed on the bottom surface of a concave portion of a package, an additional area for forming a positioning mark is required and accordingly, the package size must be increased greatly.
In order to overcome the problems described above, preferred embodiments of the present invention provide an electronic component having a construction with which the mounting position of the electronic component element can be determined with very high precision inside a package. As a result, a much larger electronic component element can be mounted face-down, and manufacturing efficiency and productivity are greatly improved.
The electronic component according to one preferred embodiment of the present invention includes an electronic component element and a package arranged to house the electronic component element, the package including a concave area in which the electronic component element is to be housed, an area for a sealing frame to be disposed along the periphery of the concave area, and a sealing cover to be mounted on the area for a sealing frame, wherein connecting electrodes to which the electronic component element is electrically connected are located in the concave area, and in that a conductive pattern to be used for image recognition is disposed on the upper surface of the area for a sealing frame.
Thus, as a conductive pattern to be used for image recognition is located on the upper surface of an area for a sealing frame, a concave area can be distinguished by performing image recognition of the conductive pattern, and therefore, it is very easy and effective to accurately and precisely mount and house an electronic component element.
An electronic component according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a conductive pattern disposed on the entire upper surface of the area for a sealing frame. Since the conductive pattern is disposed on the entire upper surface of the area for the sealing frame, even if packages become small-sized with miniaturization of electronic components, a concave area can be easily distinguished.
An electronic component according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention is arranged such that the conductive pattern extends to the internal surface of the area for a sealing frame. Since a conductive pattern extends to the internal surface of the area for the sealing frame, even if the printing of the conductive pattern is displaced when the conductive pattern is printed in the area for the sealing frame, the internal end surface of the area for the sealing frame is covered by the conductive pattern and accordingly, the concave area can be always distinguished.
In a communication device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the above-described electronic component is included.
A method of manufacturing an electronic component according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention includes providing an electronic component element and a package to house the electronic component element, forming a conductive pattern for sealing on the upper surface of an area for a sealing frame constituting the package by printing using a printing mask having an opening portion which is larger than the upper surface of the area for a sealing frame. Since a conductive pattern is printed on the upper surface of the area for the sealing frame using a printing mask having an opening larger than the upper surface of the area for the sealing frame, the conductive pattern can be formed so as to extend to the internal surface of the area for the sealing frame.
A method of manufacturing an electronic component according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention includes providing an electronic component element and a package to house the electronic component element, includes the step of performing image recognition of an area for a sealing frame constituting the package so that the electronic component element is housed inside the package. Since image recognition is performed on an area for a sealing frame, an electronic component element is easily housed and mounted by distinguishing and identifying a concave area.
A method of manufacturing electronic components according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention includes the step of performing image recognition of a conductive pattern for sealing formed in the area for a sealing frame. As a result of image recognition of a conductive pattern disposed on the upper surface of an area for a sealing frame being performed, an electronic component element can be easily housed and mounted by distinguishing a concave area.
A method of manufacturing an electronic component according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a step of recognizing an insulating pattern located in the area for a sealing frame so as to perform image recognition. By image recognition of an insulating pattern located on the upper surface of an area for a sealing frame being performed, an electronic component element can be easily housed and mounted by distinguishing a concave area.
A method of manufacturing an electronic component according to a further preferred embodiment of the present invention includes the step of recognizing a base material of a package exposed in the area for a sealing frame in order to perform image recognition. As a result of image recognition of a base material of a package exposed in an area for a sealing frame being performed, an electronic component element can be easily housed and mounted by distinguishing a concave area.
As described above, according to an electronic component and a manufacturing method thereof of various preferred embodiments of the present invention, the size and location of a concave area of a container can be accurately determined and the precision of installation of an electronic component element into a container is greatly improved. Because of this, a larger electronic component element can be installed, and at the same time, efficiency of manufacture and production of electronic components are greatly improved.
Furthermore, with microminiature electronic components having dimensions of less than about 3.0 mm xc3x97 about 3.0 mm, the displacement of conductive patterns is not negligible even if it is compared with other factors such as mounting accuracy of face-down mounting machines, etc., and accordingly, an electronic component and a manufacturing method therefor of various preferred embodiments of the present invention are very appropriate.
For the purpose of illustrating the invention, there is shown in the drawings several forms which are presently preferred, it being understood, however, that the invention is not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown.